Hildegard of Bingen and Musical Reception: The Modern Revival of a Medieval Composer

Description

Since her death in 1179, Hildegard of Bingen has commanded attention in every century. In this book Jennifer Bain traces the historical reception of Hildegard, focusing particularly on the moment in the modern era when she began to be considered as a composer. Bain examines how the activities of clergy in nineteenth-century Eibingen resulted in increased veneration of Hildegard, an authentication of her relics, and a rediscovery of her music. The book goes on to situate the emergence of Hildegard's music both within the French chant restoration movement driven by Solesmes and the German chant revival supported by Cecilianism, the German movement to reform Church music more generally. Engaging with the complex political and religious environment in German speaking areas, Bain places the more recent Anglophone revival of Hildegard's music in a broader historical perspective and reveals the important intersections amongst local devotion, popular culture, and intellectual activities.

Jennifer Bain is Associate Professor of Music at the Fountain School of Performing Arts at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia. Her articles have appeared in book collections, in The New Catholic Encyclopedia, and in music journals such as the Journal of Music Theory, Music Theory Spectrum, the Journal of Musicological Research, and Studi musicali. She edited a special early music issue of the Journal of Music Theory, and with French literature scholar, Deborah McGrady, co-edited A Companion to Guillaume de Machaut (2012). The inaugural recipient of the Sarah Jane Williams Award from the International Machaut Society, she has received publication grants from both the Society for Music Theory and the American Musicological Society, as well as research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

'This volume is especially relevant for medievalists and musicologists and would make an excellent inclusion in academic libraries. In addition to being an admirable resource for Hildegard scholars, this book is also helpful for those concerned with the history of church music, chant revival in the nineteenth century, and the work of Ludwig Schneider, a worthy scholar and a selfless man.' John MacInnis, Notes